The present invention relates to a picture image selecting and display device designed to select and display a desired picture image from a plurality of picture images.
In recent years, a technique for compressing picture images and a recording device (for example, a hard disk with a large capacity using a magnetic disk as a recording medium or a DVD using an optical disk as a recording medium) capable of recording data with a large capacity such as an animated picture image have been developed. Thus, it has been possible to record many broadcasting programs composed of picture images by utilizing them.
On the other hand, the number of programs themselves whose picture images have been recorded has been rapidly increased with the repletion of the programs by a community antenna television in addition to the broadcasting programs by a ground wave broadcasting and a satellite broadcasting.
Under these circumstances, if many programs were recorded in the above described recording device having the large capacity, there would arise a problem that it would take remarkably much time to search a program which is desired to be seen afterward owing to the large number of programs recorded on the recording device.
Thus, in order to solve such a problem in the conventional technique, there have been proposed devices disclosed in Patent Application Laid-open No. 6-22273 or the like.
A broadcast receiving, recording and reproducing device disclosed in the Patent Application Laid-open No. 6-22273 is a device designed to display the list of recorded program information and select the program information from the list so that the program information is immediately reproduced.
However, according to the above mentioned conventional device, when a user selects a program from the list or chart, the program is treated as a defined program desired by the user. Therefore, there have occurred various kinds of inconveniences as mentioned below.
Since the program is composed of picture images, the contents of the program can be expressed only to a limited extent on the basis of a text. Thus, a user cannot sometimes understand what is the program only by showing the list.
Further, when the user sees the program selected and displayed from the list and he or she does not like it, the user needs to display again the list and select another program. In other words, the user needs to repeatedly carry out operations for returning to the list from the picture or video images of the program selected and displayed from the list until the user can find a desired program.
Still further, when the number of programs whose picture or video images are recorded is large and the list covers a plurality of pages, skipping operations to the aimed page of the list must be repeatedly carried out until the desired program is found. As a countermeasure for meeting the above described operations, a method for deleting the program information which has been already selected from the list or chart may be employed. However, in this case, when it is desired to see the program which has been already selected and whose program information has been deleted, there has arisen an inconvenience and another problem has been encountered.
With the above mentioned problems taken into consideration, an object of the present invention is to provide a picture image selecting and display device with a simple structure which can be realized at a low cost and can select a desired picture image from a plurality of picture images stored in a picture image storing means or transmitted by a simple operation without unnecessary repeated operations.
To solve the above mentioned problems, the present invention is a picture image selecting and display device comprising a display member having a first display area and a second display area, a menu display member for displaying a menu including a plurality of selecting branches corresponding to a plurality of picture images which are stored in a picture image storing member or transmitted on the first display area, a selection receiving member for receiving a selection by an operator relative to a plurality of selecting branches included in the menu displayed on the first display area, and a selected picture image display member for displaying a picture or video image concerning a picture image corresponding to the selection on the second display area based on the selection received by the selection receiving member.
Further, each of the plurality of picture images may be an animated picture image or a stationary picture image.
Further, a picture or video image of the animated picture image corresponding to above-mentioned selection may be the animated picture image itself, the picture or video image of the animated picture image fed successively in a sequence of frames, a prescribed picture or video image of the animated picture image or a top picture or video image of the animated picture image.
Further, each of the plurality of picture images stored in the above-mentioned picture image storing member may be a television program composed of picture or video images which are recorded; and said plurality of selecting branches are determined based on at least one of the date and hour, the genre and the channel of the television program whose picture images are recorded.
Further, a picture image selecting and display device may comprise an instruction receiving member for receiving an instruction by said operator to display a picture image corresponding to a picture or video image displayed on the second display area on said first and second display areas and a display determining member for displaying a picture image corresponding to the picture or video image displayed on the second display area on said first and second display areas when said instruction receiving member receives the instruction by said operator.
Further, the menu and the picture or video image concerning the picture image corresponding to said selection may be stored in said picture image storing member.
Further, an enlarging and display member for enlarging and displaying information in the selecting branch selected by an operator in a prescribed area of the first display area may be provided.
Further, the information in the selecting branch may be characters displayed in the selecting branch and/or information concerning the contents of a picture image corresponding to the previously stored selecting branch.
Further, the present invention is a picture image selecting and display device comprising a display member having display areas, a menu display member for displaying a menu stored in a picture image storing member and including a plurality of selecting branches corresponding to a plurality of picture images which are transmitted, and an enlarging and display member for enlarging and displaying information included in the menu displayed on said display areas in a prescribed area in the display areas.